Telecommunications watchdog Ofcom has found that nearly half of consumers think that changing their broadband or land line provider is “too much hassle”.

Ofcom is now suggesting a system in which a new provider “takes the lead” in performing the switch. However, Ofcom notes that it must protect consumers from the growing practice of “slamming” in which switching occurs without the consumer’s consent.

Ofcom is engaged in a consultation on the issue and welcomes public comment.

Sebastien Lahtinen of broadband information site ThinkBroadband says the proposal is not without its potential pitfalls, one of which could be a rise in high-pressure sales tactics from providers. “We welcome the review by Ofcom of the switching process as it is clearly causing frustration for consumers,” he said. “However, any improvements on the current systems should ensure that the consumer is able to make an informed decision about switching.

“What we need is a system similar to that used by banks which permits the transfer of direct debits and standing orders from one bank to another. A similar process for communications services could include details of any services within the bundle, including those which cannot be transferred, and consumers could then make a decision on how to proceed.”

Source: BBC Tech News

Nearly two million more Britons have come online during the last year, over half of which are over 50, according to new research.

The UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) found that the net audience now stands at 38.8 million, up from 36.9 million at the same time last year.

The majority of internet newbies were made up of over-50s, with more men than women joining up.

“The internet is getting older in more ways than one. Not only is the medium itself maturing but the audience is shifting towards older age groups,” said Alex Burmaster, speaking on behalf of UKOM. “There is a still a perception that the net is youth-centric but this is clearly not the reality,” he added.

A lot of Internet services are increasingly targeting the older generation which may have contributed to this increase in web usage.

Source: BBC Technology

BT is to expand its fibre broadband footprint in the UK – investing an additional £1bn to take coverage to around two-thirds of the nation by 2015.

Just under two years ago, the telco announced it would be investing £1.5bn to bring fibre-based broadband to 40 per cent of the country by 2012.

Reporting its latest financial results today, BT said it now plans to boost its fibre investment to a total of £2.5bn – in order to take coverage to 66 per cent of UK homes by 2015.

“Assuming an acceptable environment for investment, we see the potential to roll out fibre to around two-thirds of the UK by 2015,” said BT CEO Ian Livingston in a statement. However, the BT spokesman said, on its own BT will not push beyond 66 per cent fibre coverage. Public sector support of some form will be required to go beyond that, be it at a national level via a central government administered funding support mechanism or by regional funds and local partnerships to boost coverage in particular areas. With the last third, the spokesman said costs “escalate out of all proportion”.

“This latest fibre investment] will go to the limit of where we can commercially,” he said, adding: “We’re pleased that all the parties – including the Conservatives – recognise that public sector funding will probably be needed to reach the final third.

“Our view is very much that the last third has to be an issue for the politicians.”

The telco’s commercial fibre broadband service launched back in January and has signed up “thousands” of customers so far, according to the spokesman.

“We’ve seen good interest in it so far,” he said, adding: “It does seem to change their habits with the internet – people are now watching a lot of multiple HD streaming.”

The Government has heeded calls by the public and dropped unpopular proposals to introduce a ‘broadband tax’. The levy, intended to help finance the provision of faster broadband across the country, would have seen households forking out an extra £6 per year. The subsidy would have been added to household phone bills.

The levy was proposed by the Government last year in a bid to ramp-up the roll out of the fibre-optic broadband network and ensure 90 per cent of the UK has access to super-fast broadband by 2017.

The tax, which was expected to raise around £170m, would have made up part of the £1bn Next Generation Fund, that will be used to pay for the roll-out of fibre-optic networks.

However, the Conservative Party was heavily against the tax, instead believing the TV Licence Fee and private investors should cover the cost of rolling out fibre-optic broadband.

The tax was one of three proposed charges dumped from the Finance Bill as the Government prepares to push legislation through before Parliament is dissolved on 12 April in preparation for the General Election.

Net firms must do a better job of telling customers about broadband speeds or face stiffer regulation, Ofcom has warned.

The warning came out of research the telecoms watchdog carried out on how ISP’s sell broadband. It revealed that 74% of customers were not told that the maximum speed on their line was likely to be higher than the speed they would actually get.

Ofcom wants to make improvements to how broadband is sold later this year. It proposes working with ISP’s to ensure testing regimes are consistent and to amend the code of practice to make sure speeds are mentioned early on in sales conversations with customers.

Source: BBC Technology

Google will be reviewing localities where it can build its experimental fiber network over the next few months.

Back in February, the search giant said it would build an experimental fiber optic network in an attempt to illustrate the ‘art of the possible’ in a small number of communities in the U.S. Since that news, Google has been pitched by 600 responses from communities. Individuals also chimed in.

Now the requests for information are about over, Google will make a selection. Google said in a post:

Over the coming months, we’ll be reviewing the responses to determine where to build. As we narrow down our choices, we’ll be conducting site visits, meeting with local officials and consulting with third-party organizations. Based on a rigorous review of the data, we will announce our target community or communities by the end of the year.

Google only plans to reach 50,000 to 500,000 people with its experiment, but you’d think every community would want to be involved. The press that Google’s ultra-fast network could generate would be great for local businesses and future development.

Source: ZDNet

Chancellor Alistair Darling has confirmed the government’s planned 50p per month tax on UK landlines will come into effect later this year.

The next-generation levy, announced last year, will help pay for the government’s pledge that at least 90 percent of the UK will get super-fast broadband services by 2017.

By charging landline owners £6 per year, the government hopes to raise up to £175m annually to help fund the extension of next-generation broadband services to areas where commercial providers are unlikely to take their rollouts, such as rural regions.

The tax will take effect from 1 October this year.

Source: Silicon.com

Google, BT, PayPal and a number of other partners have launched a campaign to get 100,000 small UK businesses onto the web by the end of the year.

Get British Business Online (GBBO), launched last Thursday, allows businesses to set up a free website by entering basic information about the company. Features include Google Maps business listings, website data via Google Analytics and telephone support from BT. PayPal said it will shortly allow the free websites to accept e-commerce payments.

The campaign is an initiative of core partners BT, Enterprise UK, e-Skills UK and Google. It is supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), as well as by PayPal and the Institute of Directors. The partners said they are also working with a number of regional business advice organisations around the UK.

Google UK managing director Matt Brittin said consumers are increasingly turning to the web to find information on local businesses, yet he estimated 1.5 million businesses do not have a web presence. Small businesses tend to view the web as complicated or costly, or do not see the advantage in having a website, he said.

Source: ZDNet

Ericsson plans to demonstrate an HSPA+ network with a peak theoretical download rate of 84Mbps at next week’s Mobile World Congress, aiming for the fastest peak rate yet for an HSPA+ network.

The demonstration in Barcelona will be the first public showing of an 84Mbps HSPA+ network, Ericsson said in its announcement last Friday. The company demonstrated the first 56Mbps HSPA technology at 2009′s CTIA conference in Las Vegas.

HSPA+, also known as Evolved High-Speed Packet Access, is an advanced version of HSPA, which improves the performance of existing 3G WCDMA protocols. The downlink protocol for HSPA is called high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), while the upload protocol is known as high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA).

Ericsson said this technology is aimed at allowing users to access applications such as social networking, online gaming and video conferencing on the move.

Source: ZDNet

This Point Topic map shows the fibre-access deployments to which BT has committed itself.

The research firm has issued predictions of the extent of BT’s NGA rollout, based on announcements made by BT Openreach.

According to these predictions, 7.4 percent of the UK population – or 4.52 million people – will be able to get fibre-based broadband access via BT’s network by the end of 2010. By the end of 2011, that figure will be 16.3 percent, or 10 million people.

By the end of 2012, Point Topic estimates, 34.8 percent of the UK population, or 21,350,000 people, will be covered by BT’s fibre rollout.

Source: ZDNet